Malnutrition in Guatemala:A national shame
Guatemalan authorities are failing to act effectively against the country’s high rate of child malnutrition, The Economist says. Nearly half of all Guatemalan youngsters suffer from chronic malnutrition, the sixth-worst level in the world despite the country having potential financial resources sufficient to provide better health care, education and food aid.

In Zambia, photos of childbirth spark controversy
The editor of a newspaper in Zambia might face jail time for distributing pornography after sending officials a photograph of a woman delivering a stillborn child outside a hospital. In the photograph, a woman is shown attempting to deliver the child, who was oriented feet first, after she was turned away from two clinics — which were understaffed because of a prolonged nurses’ strike. Critics say the editor’s arrest is a political retaliation for editorials that have criticized the government’s handling of the health crisis. See a bit more from Cassandra, in the piece Activism or Pornography?

Young Afghan to sue U.S. over Gitmo detention
The family of one of the youngest prisoners ever held at Guantanamo plans to sue the U.S. government to compensate him for mistreatment and an adolescence lost to nearly seven years in a cell, his lawyers said Thursday. Jawad and his family say he was 12 when he was arrested, and that he is now 19 years old. The Pentagon has said a bone scan showed he was about 17 when taken into custody. His defence lawyers decline to give an exact age for Jawad, who does not have a birth certificate, but say photos taken in Guantanamo showed that he had not gone through puberty.

Starvation ravages East Africa
War, drought and rising food prices have unleashed a wave of starvation across eastern Africa. The United Nations’ World Food Programme has issued an emergency appeal for funding to help millions of people in Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia in need of food assistance.

Genetic advance raises IVF hopes
Researchers have discovered a way to treat a disorder affecting the mitochondria in female human ova — a treatment that could promise a way for women with defective eggs to have children without using those eggs. The mitochondrial disorder is faulted for hundreds of disorders, including anemia, dementia and various neurological diseases.

Children poisoned picking tobacco, study finds
Tens of thousands of children working in African tobacco fields slowly are being poisoned through exposure to nicotine and tobacco dust equivalent to smoking a pack a day, according to a study from Plan International. The child laborers wear no protective gear and exhibit symptoms including breathing difficulty, headaches and chest pains, the report noted.

The Women’s Crusade
Using development dollars to help women and girls achieve economic independence as a means to fight extremism and poverty is gaining recognition among Western policymakers and aid groups. In many developing countries, girls are less likely than boys to receive proper medical care, education and sustenance, leading to higher gender-related ratios of poverty and death.

New PMTCT guidelines to save moms and babies
A more effective antiretroviral (ARV) regimen for pregnant HIV-positive Kenyan women lies at the heart of new national guidelines for the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission {PMTCT). Now, a combination of three ARVs - zidovudine (AZT), nevirapine and lamivudine (3TC) - will be used for mother and baby, rather than the single dose of nevirapine administered previously, which led to some women and children developing resistance to the drug.

“Refusing Marriage at 13, Indian Girl Asks for Education Instead
Rekha Kalindi defied convention at 13, refusing marriage and demanding an education instead. Her story and conviction has been brought to the national stage in India, with newspapers “hailing her for accomplishing change that the Indian government was incapable of making,” as ABC News reports.